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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Even though Memorial Day weekend isn't until next weekend, it seems like Summer has officially kicked off here in Northern Indiana. The humidity started in on Saturday, with Sunday bringing high temperatures and bright sunshine to make it altogether rather sticky outside.

Saturday we rode our bikes down to the Farmer's Market, where we got a LOT of meat, fresh veggies and some shade plants for the garden.

We spent the majority of Saturday afternoon outside putting in these plants, and our first ever vegetable garden.

We're growing acorn squash, beets, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant, chives and basil. We're using the marigolds as a natural version of pesticide.

It's not a huge garden, but we're very excited for our first year growing our own produce. We restrained ourselves, otherwise we would have gone WAY overboard for this first year.

Saturday night we cooked out on our patio (some of the newly acquired meat) on our brand new Weber grill that the Momcat and Daddo got us for our fourth wedding anniversary. It was SO much easier to use than our old travel grill!

Thanks, parents!

We've spend a lot of time outside in the last week, so I really haven't done much (any) crafting. But I leave you with the N-boy's artistic contribution to our landscaping design. He's been taking the bricks (we live on the edge of an old railroad embankment) and rocks we've found in the yard to create festive piles and designs.

Hopefully I'll get some crafting done so that I, too, have a creative contribution next week.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Jane and I went scrapbooking again last night, and again were super productive.

We'd ordered pizza the last couple of times we were here, so this time we decided to be healthy and get take out salads from the salad bar at the grocery store on the way there.

Yum!

It was a pretty full house last night, and one of the women showed me a new product that I'd never seen before: the Snapload system from Pioneer.

The instructions aren't particularly clear, so luckily I she helped me set it up.

Basically, this system replaces the posts (and the post extensions) in post bound scrapbooks in a way that allowed you to MUCH more easily add, take out and re-arrange pages. You put 3M holders on each side of the scrapbook, and then use the binding thingy (which are just similar to zip ties) to go through the pages in the holes, tighten the pages together, and then snap into place.

I'd been wanted to add some more pages to the wedding scrapbook, so I could include pictures of the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon, but hadn't yet because I'd dreaded messing around with the posts. Now I can add pages whenever I want without anxiety.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A non-crafty blog entry again today, but we do have pictures of the current most cutest baby in the world. Really, given the baby bug that has bit me, I should be applauded for not having EVERY blog entry chock full of adorable baby pictures. Of course, I think if I blogged only about other peoples babies it would be a little creepy.

But a few occasional babies seem ok to me!

Last weekend the N-boy and I went to Madison to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. The big day isn't actually until May 26, but last weekend was the only time when the planets aligned and we were both able to get away at the same time. Madison is a special city to as, as the N-boy lived there when we were dating, and we got engaged there. That means when we visit, we also get to see friends. Reproducing friends!

This is the latest baby in my Cutest Baby Collection: he's just six months old:

I think this pictures shows what I'll be getting into when we finally pop a child of our own.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Arbor House, which is located right across fro the Arboretum, and is on the bike trail.

They're an ecologically friendly inn, with the BEST home cooked breakfast on the weekends, wine and snacks and dessert each night. They have a sauna, a full kitchen for guest use, whirlpool tubs and Burt's Bee's shampoo!

We are definitely planning a return trip there, and maybe even before anniversary number five!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

How is it possible that it's already May?? The year has gone by so fast. I thought I'd take a moment to review where I am with the goals I'd laid out in January. I apologize if this isn't the most interesting blog, but it helps to keep me accountable!

1. Run a 5k

---Sunburst 5k on June 6??

I had been doing really well with getting exercise in, but have fallen behind since I returned from Paduch. I need to step this up a bit!

2. Post 125 blog entries

Hmmm.... well I've got 22 done. So not too bad, but I look forward to doing more in the coming months.

3. Piece the following projects:

-Mystery quilt

- Teacup quilt

- Challenge quilt 2

-Valentine's Day foundation piecing Done!

-Limeade

-Over the Rainbow

-Six more projects!!!

4. Quilt the following projects:

-Cat practice panel

-Serenity

- Freddy's quilt

-Challenge quilt 1

-Valentine's Day quilt Done!

-Teacup quilt

5. Write Grandpa 1 time a week, and write 52 other letters to people

Hmmm doing only so-so here. I need to get back on track, especially with writing letters to Grandpa.

6. Keep a book log of books read (I've always wanted to do this. This is the year!!)

-Was a bit behind on this, but now I'm all caught up. I've read 31 books this year so far!

7. Attend Mass/church 25 times

-Was doing pretty well on this, especially around Easter. Need to try to get to more services!

8. Control Journal/Flylady-Getting there with babysteps!

9 Attend NAMI support group 20 times-I haven't been going as much lately, but I've been getting the support I need from other sources, such as friends, family and work!

10. Redecorate one room in the house

-We've chosen colors to paint the bedroom, and have decided on the furniture we'll get for it! So we're moving forward!

11. Plant a garden

-The plot is put in, and we bought seeds today! Now we just need to wait to May 15 so we can plant!

12. Scrapbook 50 pages

--20 done so far! And I'm going to a crop again Friday night. I may actually finish the wedding album!

Overall, I think I've done ok. Some things (like scrapbooking), I've made more progress on this year than ever before. Some things I need to keep chugging away at with baby steps and consistency. Here's to a productive rest of May for me!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

I've been making some significant progress on the baby quilt, which is good since she was born yesterday! A healthy baby girl named Chloe; mom and baby seem like they're doing well. Now I just need to get this finished up so we can take it when we visit!

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by how quickly these large blocks have come together. It felt like it took FOREVER to get the nine sets of nine nine-patches (say that nine times fast!) together, but now we're moving right along!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Saturday dawned with cloudy skies and the sad realization that today was our last day in Paducah.

We started the day out at Carson Park where we wanted to see Eleanor Burns' live show, and shop her store that they'd set up out there for the week.

First we snagged seats in the performance tent, and then we entered the wonderful land of the ....

A huge tent filled with nothing but fabric for $5 a yard. I mean, how could this be anything but wonderful and magnificent! I ended up with just a few yards of pieces that matched some thing I'd already picked up at Hancock's of Paducah. Because I clearly needed more still...

Then we wandered over the the third large tent where there were books and patterns and notions and...

Eleanor Burns herself taking pictures and signing books!

After the show and some more shopping, we headed back to Hancock's of Paducah for one last hurrah.

I found this sign funny, as it shows how many WOMEN are at this show!

With that, we braved the outdoors (it was still raining off and on-heavily at times) and went back to Fluffy the car for the long drive back to Indiana. Despite the rainy weather we made good time and were happy to get back to the cats.

And the cats were happy their humans were home! (And no, their eyes are not that creepy in real life.)

Assessing the Damage, or

Paducah: the Aftermath!

On Sunday we sorted through all of our goodies, got the Momcat's stuff packed up and ready to head back to Nebraska, and put my things away.

It doesn't look that bad when it's all just lumped in a pile...

But when we spread it out we ended up with a table of fabric:

And a table of patterns and notions:

This is all of our stuff put together. But when I counted things up, my fabric alone was 35 1/2 cut yards plus 5 charm packs and a jelly roll! I had more than the Momcat! We were sad to see the trip come to an end, but I think we have enough fabrics and ideas to keep us busy for a while!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

This has been a great week for me as AQS selected me and this blog as their blog of the week! I'm really honored that they chose my blog, and I'm so excited to be able to put their award button on my page! I really did have the best time at the quilt show, and have loved being able to share the adventures that Mom and I had there. You can check out the winning blog each week via their facebook page.

Thanks, AQS!

And now, back to our previously scheduled programming...

Paducah Dah 3 (Friday)

We started Friday morning with another run through Hancock's of Paducah. Well, really more of a slow waddle as we were so loaded down with fabric.

Here's the Momcat contemplating her selection. She (like me!) is going to make a Kaffe Fassett inspired diamond quilt!

It should be a stretch for both of us!

Our next stop was the National Quilt Museum-the Museum of the American Quilter's Society!

Afterwards, we headed back to the convention center where we had a nutritious lunch of strawberry shortcake. A local boy scout troop sells these every year for a fundraiser.

WE LOVE THEM!

After lunch, we finished touring the quilt show in the convention center and then headed over to the rotary civic center for more vendors and the display of WWII victory quilts.

In addition to these historic quilts, they also had some interesting sewing related propaganda from that time period.

After we'd spent more money buying fabic, we again went back to the convention center for dinner and an evening class with Klaudeen Hansen. We took a class from Klaudeen last year and had a great time, so we were eager to have a second one. This year's class was called "Diagonal Illusions."

Here's a what it looks like; this picture has four completed blocks, two of mine and two of moms, so don't mind the different colors.

It's really cool because your eye is drawn to the 16 patch in the center, and the outside four patches, but you dont' immediately see how the block is assembled.

We worked hard and had a great time.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and crashed for the night. Next up, Paducah Day 4 (Saturday), the drive home and seeing what the damage was!